


Darkness

by PeterHaleforAlpha



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Blindness, Deaf Character, M/M, Trouble of the Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25354195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeterHaleforAlpha/pseuds/PeterHaleforAlpha
Summary: All of a sudden Nathan is at an unknown place, unable to see anything. He's all alone and scared ... until Duke shows up.
Relationships: Duke Crocker/Nathan Wuornos
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40
Collections: Haven Month 2020





	Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> I am a sucker for blind Nathan so that's actually my third fic I've written with this trope. Apparently I just love to hurt him xD
> 
> Also this is an old fic but I never posted it anywhere and it's part of Haven Month!

Nathan never liked darkness.

He wasn’t actually afraid of it. He felt more like he wasn’t in control. Being robbed of one of his senses made him feel uneasy and unsure.  
With his affliction it was a hundred percent worse. He was cut off from the world. There was no connection to it. It made the darkness feel so much more terrifying.  
Nevertheless Nathan tried to stay calm. He avoided to move too much, although he wasn’t too sure if he did.

Nathan had no idea what had happened. One moment he was in his office, concentrating on the case, the next moment everything was dark around him. He was pretty sure that he wasn’t in the station anymore. At least his hearing still worked and it was way too quiet. He had to be somewhere else.  
“Anyone here?” he yelled into the darkness. He waited for several seconds but the only thing he could hear was the heartbeat in his ears. The worst thing about this whole situation, Nathan didn’t know if the place was just unimaginable dark, or if something was wrong with his eyes. He hoped it wasn’t the latter.

Nathan waited for a few minutes that felt like hours until he was restless and wanted to do something. The problem was - he couldn’t. He was completely useless like that. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t feel. There was nothing he could do without help.  
The worst part though was that Audrey was on her own now. Duke had gone missing as well and Audrey had been determined to find him. It had gotten to her, Nathan could tell, although she tried to act strong and professional. And now Nathan left her too.

Nathan didn’t want to think about how she must be feeling right now because Nathan could imagine. He had lost Audrey and Duke once too, and it had broken him in so many different ways.  
So Nathan needed to get back to her. Needed to help her.

Right when Nathan decided to move a little - and with a lot of luck maybe find someone- he heard footsteps. “Who’s there?” he asked.  
Only silence except the footsteps - but they were definitely coming closer.  
“I’m Nathan Wuornos, Haven PD.” If it was a friend he hoped this would calm the person. Maybe they were just afraid. And if it should be an enemy he hoped it would earn him some respect.

It took some long seconds, before “Oh my god, Nathan, how did you find me?”  
Honestly, Nathan had never been so damn happy to hear Duke’s voice. A smile formed on his lips. “Duke? Are you okay?” He reached out with his arms in the general direction that he thought Duke would be.

“Okay, okay, yes, stupid me, asking questions,” Duke rambled. “This is not gonna work. I can’t hear you. I can’t hear anything. So talking won’t work. Though it’s quite nice to have a little break from your voice.”  
Nathan closed his eyes with a long sigh. Now it was pretty certain that it wasn’t his surroundings but his eyes. “Can’t see,” Nathan said as slowly as possible in hope that Duke could read the movement of his lips.  
“Nate, are you deaf too? Can’t hear you.”

Without actually seeing it, Nathan imagined that Duke made some weird movements with his hands around his ears to prove his point.  
“Okay, how about I ask you question where you can nod or shake your head? Sounds like a good idea?”  
Nathan nodded his head frantically.  
“Okay, great. You know where we are?”  
Nathan shook his head. “Came here probably the same way you got here,” Nathan mumbled before even realizing it. “Sorry.”  
“This last part I got. You’re sorry? For what? Okay, okay, sorry, right, yes or no questions. How did you come here? Did you find the place on your own?”  
Another shake of his head.  
“So you’re probably just another victim? Great! What are you even good for, Detective Wuornos?”

Without his sight or his feelings, his hearing was way better, so he didn’t miss the little shake in Duke’s voice. He tried to come over as unfazed, cracking jokes, but he was worried, maybe even afraid. “You’re ok?” he asked once more. Nathan needed to know if Duke was hurt in any kind - except for the loss of his hearing.  
“You want to know if I’m okay?”  
Nathan nodded immediately.  
“Except that I can’t hear a damn thing I’m fine. This place is like a maze though. I haven’t found a way out yet. Don’t think you will have any luck either.”

Nathan shook his head to signalize that he won’t.  
“I’m not used to you giving up that easily. Where is the Haven PD spirit?”  
Nathan sighed and shook his head once more in frustration. He needed to tell Duke somehow what was wrong with him. If Duke hadn’t realized it by now his eyes had to look normal. So he blinked a few times to get Duke’s attention and pointed at his eyes too. He just hoped his muscle memory was enough to point in the right direction and not poke himself in the face.

“Are you trying to use morse code with your eyes now? Don’t get me wrong but I would love to get out of here. Maybe together we can find a way? Maybe you can hear something that leads to an exit.”  
“No, Duke,” Nathan yelled, knowing full well that yelling wouldn’t lead to the answer of this problem, but he was frustrated. He was scared. And Duke wasn’t a big help. “I can’t see. I can’t help you.”  
“Okay, Nate, calm down. I have no idea what you are saying and shouting won’t help you.” There was a long pause. “What is wrong with you? Are you okay?”  
Nathan closed his eyes and shook his head.

“You’re deaf too? That must be part of the Trouble. Damn it, how should we -wait, no, you can hear me, you answered me.” Duke was normally not so slow with understanding. Nathan knew now that he was probably as scared as he was and wasn’t paying much attention. “What is it then?”  
Once more Nathan blinked so that Duke would finally understand. The long pause that followed was proof enough for Nathan.

“Oh, Nate, I’m-” he started and cut off right after.  
“It’s okay. You just need to help me and then we can fix this.” Nathan hoped they could fix this. He had no idea how to live with this otherwise. He reached out with his arm and hoped that Duke would get the hint.  
“I’m gonna get us out of here. I’ve got you. Just walk and I’ll make sure you won’t run into any walls. Just like this one time when we were kids.”

Duke had lured him into a big cave and they got lost. It was a few weeks after his Trouble had kicked in and Nathan was still adjusting. With almost darkness around him he had felt utterly lost. Duke though had helped him out of the caves, back into the light. Back then they weren’t really friends and Nathan had only trusted him because he had no other choice.  
Now there wasn’t a person on this planet Nathan trusted more - although he barely said it. But Duke was the one person that Nathan trusted blindly, no matter how rocky their relationship was. He knew Duke would be there always.

“We’ll find a way out of here. Just follow my voice. Just concentrate on it.” And then Duke started rambling about the most random stuff. Nathan smiled to himself.

He had never liked the darkness but with Duke it was at least bearable.

**Author's Note:**

> That Nathan and Duke were lost in some caves is also a fic on mine, one of my first. You can find it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3612525


End file.
